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Virtually Again
NYC schools propose strategies for smaller class sizes, consider more remote learning: plan
NY Daily News, 5/28/2024
New York City public schools won’t cap enrollment at popular schools to comply with the class-size law this fall, education officials announced Tuesday — but suggested remote instruction and other strategies to bring more classes to the required levels.
The local Education Department has directed each of the city’s dozens of school districts to increase its share of classes in compliance by 3%, according to a draft class size plan. The law currently being phased in will limit classes to between 20 and 25 students depending on grade level.
And while significant enrollment proposals aren’t part of the 50-page plan, principals were given about a dozen options to meet new targets, including to rebalance their classes, repurpose space for classrooms, and even consider using virtual learning to reduce the impact on space.
Losing Classrooms for Small Class Size
NYC schools could use gyms, other spaces to comply with class-size mandate as critics blast ‘disaster in the making’
NY Post, 5/29/2024
As many as 500 schools could choose to repurpose gyms and faculty lounges as classrooms as the city scrambles to meet the state’s class size mandates amid soaring enrollment.
The option is one of 12 suggestions for schools that are listed in a draft plan released by city Department of Education officials Tuesday.
…Deborah Kross, a representative for the Bronx on the Citywide Council on High Schools, told The Post that she thinks “it’s a disaster in the making.”
“We’re going to potentially lose our libraries, our labs, our art rooms to make room for core subjects.”
Parents Denounce NYCPS School Admissions Lotteries
PLACE NYC 2024 ADMISSIONS SURVEY RESULTS: Parents Denounce NYCPS School Admissions Lotteries, Demand Return to Objective Test for G&T and More Accelerated Programs
PLACE NYC, 5/22/2024
Over 450 public school parents responded to the PLACE NYC Admissions Survey after the release of New York City Public Schools’ (NYCPS) Kindergarten, Middle and High School offers for the 2024-25 school year. Questions were focused on the overall fairness of the process, as well as on availability and accessibility of academically rigorous programs.
80% of the respondents recently completed the admissions process for their child (or children) and provided extensive feedback on their experience for Kindergarten (167 responses), Middle School (309 responses), and High School (247 responses).
UFT Recommends School Mergers
Teachers’ union UFT rolls out class size plan to meet new state mandate by September
amNY, 5/7/2024
City Hall and Albany have been at odds about class size in public schools, but the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) — the city’s teachers union — said on Tuesday that smaller class sizes are achievable, especially under the state-approved deal to let NYC Mayor Eric Adams keep control of city schools.
The UFT’s survey found the 856 Title 1 schools — those with high poverty populations — will have the space needed to lower class sizes to 20 students in kindergarten through third grade, 23 in fourth through eighth grade and 25 in high school.
…Meanwhile, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander offered a blueprint Monday that could potentially help the city meet its class size mandate. Among Lander’s recommendations for the DOE are identifying school merger opportunities to attain class size compliance and school integration.
Parent Group Oppose Unintended Consequences
NYC parents give failing grade to public school class size law that could see 12K new teachers
NY Post, 4/17/2024
A newly formed parents group blasted union-backed law that will limit public school classroom sizes – and could force the Big Apple to hire as many as 12,000 new teachers.
The Coalition for Class Size Equity is on the attack against Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers, saying they’re out to oppose the “negative consequences” of the earth-shattering law that was imposed on city schools after a major lobbying push by the teachers’ union.
Advocacy Corner
“Math Path” – A Virtual Discussion
CEC2 Academic Affairs Committee will hold a virtual discussion on the Math Path Pilot Program proposal.
Date: Wed, June 5, 7-8pm
Guest Panelists:
Dr. Amelie Marion
Dr. Laura Giuliano
Maya Keshavan
Rex Ridgeway
Zoom Registration: https://nycdoe.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qdeqgpz4vHtXlD5a0N5vn7sQyVempJORT
Petition to Remove Schools as Early Voting Sites
Support Assembly Bill A10504 which “schools shall not be designated as early voting polling sites. It has passed unanimously in the Senate Committee.”
Link to Send Email (works best on mobile phones): tinyurl.com/bdha7xy
Elections Watch
Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Goldman face primary challengers. Who are they?
Gothamist, 5/23/2024
AAPI Power Players: Yiatin Chu, PLACE NYC co-founder
PoliticsNY, 4/29/2024
Other Headlines
NYC high schools brace for widespread pro-Palestine walkout, protest outside DOE headquarters
NY Daily News, 5/30/2024
紐約市長：表現優異學校無需縮班
World Journal, 5/30/2024
He Won the Spelling Bee 70 Years Ago. Here’s His Advice for Today’s Competitors.
Wall Street Journal, 5/29/2024
Disappearing Act
Gifted and talented programs are vanishing from schools. That’s a bigger problem than you think.
Boston Globe, 5/29/2024
Zhe started in such programs the year his family immigrated to America from China, when he started second grade in Fairbanks, Alaska. His father would soon find work in Pennsylvania’s collapsing steel industry, and his mother waitressed and took community college classes to train for a technical role at an engineering firm.
Meanwhile, Zhe enrolled in gifted programs at public schools in rural Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh suburbs, and at Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Sciences, a free summer residency camp for high-achieving students. Eventually, he attended Harvard on scholarship.
The Massive Immigration Wave Hitting America’s Classrooms
Wall Street Journal, 5/25/2024
NYC schools plan pretend ‘remote learning’ day in June. Students are invited.
Gothamist, 5/24/2024
Chancellor warns FAFSA bugs are ‘biggest roadblock’ SUNY faces amid fears of attendance drop
NY Daily News, 5/22/2024
Inflation Everywhere
Test Scores Down, GPAs Up: The New Angst Over Grade Inflation
Wall Street Journal, 5/17/2024
Teachers’ grading practices have changed and students’ grades have drifted up in recent years, a pandemic-era legacy that is being met with mixed reaction from educators across the country.
Dating back to 2020, when the pandemic upended American education overnight, many schools have adopted a more lenient approach to grading. Some eliminated zeros or removed penalties for late work. Many teachers report “giving grace” to struggling students. Others say they have felt pressure from administrators to limit failure rates.
Higher grades have come even as students’ test scores and attendance rates have dropped.
The Algebra Problem: How Middle School Math Became a National Flashpoint
NY Times, 5/22/2024
Everyone Gets a Trophy, and No Trophy Is Worth Anything
Wall Street Journal, op-ed by Joseph Epstein, 5/17/2024
Honors Opt-out
Dallas ISD’s Opt-Out Policy Dramatically Boosts Diversity in Its Honors Classes
The 74 Million, 5/16/2024
It was a barrier that kept many Dallas Independent School District students from taking courses that reflected their potential: Those who wanted to join honors classes in the sixth, seventh and eighth grade had to opt-in themselves or had to earn a recommendation — typically from a teacher or parent.
…It decided to move from an opt-in model to an opt-out policy in the 2019-20 school year. Since then, all students who score well on state exams are now automatically enrolled in advanced mathematics, reading, science and social studies — or some combination of the four. Under the current model, students cannot opt out without written parent permission. The move has dramatically increased participation among traditionally marginalized children.
More for Less
NYC public school system got billions more in funding since 2020 despite shrinking enrollment: analysis
NY Post, 5/15/2024
New York City’s public school system has received billions of dollars in additional funding since 2020 — despite enrollment cratering by nearly 100,000 students during that time, an analysis released Wednesday reveals.
Per-student spending at K-12 Department of Education schools is expected to hit $39,304 in the upcoming fiscal year 2025 budget — a massive 26.3% increase, equating to $8,185 more per student since 2020, the “Did You Know” study by the Citizens Budget Commission found.
Nearly half of master’s degrees have a negative ROI
The Hill, 5/14/2024
SI Gets G&T
First Gifted and Talented school on Staten Island to open at former St. John Villa campus
silive.com, 5/9/2024
A dedicated Gifted and Talented (G&T) school serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade will open on Staten Island at the former St. John Villa Academy campus.
Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island/Southwest Brooklyn) announced that new school will open thanks to a joint agreement with the New York City Department of Education (DOE).
Borough Priorities
NYC to restore a controversial admissions boost for Manhattan students, Banks says
Chalkbeat, 5/3/2024
Schools Chancellor David Banks intends to bring back a controversial admissions bump for Manhattan eighth-graders at some of New York City’s most sought-after high schools, he told parents this week.
The rule, which was scrapped by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2020, gave students from Manhattan’s District 2 first crack at a half dozen selective schools in the district, including Eleanor Roosevelt, NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies, and Millennium High School. The district spans much of lower and midtown Manhattan along with the Upper East Side and is one of the city’s most affluent.
How NYC plans to bring hate crime prevention lessons into public school classrooms
amNY, 4/30/2024
Middle schools in Norway banned smartphones. The benefits were dramatic, a study shows.
Boston Globe, 4/27/2024
The List
N.Y.’s high school ranking: 2024 U.S. News & World Report has best to worst
silve.com, 4/27/2024
Middle school students throughout New York state are making plans for high schools in September.
U.S. News & World Report, which considers itself the global authority in education rankings, recently announced the 2024 Best New York High Schools. The rankings evaluate 1,279 high schools throughout the state, where Regents Exams are mandatory.
…Here are the top high schools in New York state, according to U.S. News & World Report’s ranking:
NYC to pay $2.1M in race discrimination settlement with three educators: ‘Toxic whiteness’
NY Post, 4/27/2024
Go to a state school
Silver Bulletin by Nate Silver, 4/23/2024
反對小班制 班級規模公平聯盟成立
World Journal, 4/17/2024
When schools experimented with $10,000 pay hikes for teachers in hard-to-staff areas, the results were surprising
Hechinger Report, 4/8/2024
School Openings
NYC to open nine new public schools with accelerated, career programs
NY Daily News, 4/4/2024
New York City will open nine new public schools this fall in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, including accelerated and technical high school programs, Schools Chancellor David Banks announced Thursday.
Bard High School in East New York will be the second of three accelerated schools Banks promised to open outside of Manhattan. Last year, he opened another location of Bard in the South Bronx. The third school for advanced students will open next year in southeast Queens, education officials said.
The class-size law is about to cause misery for countless city public-school families
NY Post, op-ed by Jean Hahn and Natalya Murakvher, 3/22/2024
Permits filed for a 630-seat annex for Kew Gardens Hills school
QNS, 3/21/2024
Results from the 2024 NYC School Admission Lottery Surveys
Amelie Marian, Algorithms in the Wild, 3/15/2024